After a twenty-year career at Microsoft, Bj Rollison took some time to reflect on the software testing profession. Bj has seen many positive changes in our field through the years. Unfortunately, he also has seen too many of us still mired in trends and topics that make good fodder for debate but do very little to enhance our personal careers or the testing profession. Bj reflects on the “traditional” testing role and its evolution in the past twenty years, and shares his perspective on some hot button issues—the value of testing certifications, the impact of ISO standards on the industry, and the advance of test automation—within our profession. Additionally, Bj discusses his views on how practices such as exploratory testing, agile lifecycles, and the “schools of testing” affect our roles as software testers. Bj provides thought-provoking insights into these topics and other subjects that matter when building your career—and our profession.

Beyond the publicity and hype about the Internet of Things (IoT), a new term is emerging—the Internet of Everything (IoE). What are people talking about? Should you be interested? What does it mean to testers and development? Paul Gerrard shares his perspective on the scale, variety, ubiquity, complexity, and challenge of this technological wave that many believe will dominate our industry into the next decade. Right now, the IoT/IoE is very confusing. Although standards are emerging, many commercial applications are bleeding edge, speculative, or exploratory. While security and privacy concerns dominate the discussion today, significant functional, user experience, integration, and complexity challenges await us. The IoE brings broader societal risks that must be addressed by organizations, individuals, and their governments. Paul presents a seven-layer architectural model to help you make sense of it all. Take back a set of key questions you need to ask and recommendations for formulating your test strategy for the Internet of Everything.

Throughout the years, Lightning Talks have been a popular part of the STAR conferences. If you’re not familiar with the concept, Lightning Talks consists of a series of five-minute talks by different speakers within one presentation period. Lightning Talks are the opportunity for speakers to deliver their single biggest bang-for-the-buck idea in a rapid-fire presentation. And now, lightning has struck the STAR keynotes. Some of the best-known experts in testing will step up to the podium and give you their best shot of lightning. Get multiple keynote presentations for the price of one—and have some fun at the same time.Lightning Strikes the Keynotes

It’s time to change the conversation about testing and quality―from bugs and poor requirements to products and solutions. Instead, Janet Gregory says testers and managers working in agile organizations need to learn more about the business, the market, and the customers. With that knowledge, we have the information necessary to identify key problems and formulate solutions that reduce uncertainty and increase product value. Janet challenges testers and test managers to lead the way to change how organizations talk about quality. She explores ways to measure value and focus on the positive rather than a more negative cost-of-quality perspective. In an agile organization testing is not a job or a phase or a department; testing is a crosscutting concern and a skill which is vital to every contributor on a project and to a product. Join Janet to learn ways to rethink your priorities and ways to optimize your test practices.

As we face new technologies, methodologies, and approaches, the roles and responsibilities of testers are evolving. To stay current, the test professional’s skill set must increase. Due to agile, the strict separation of developer and tester roles is fading. Teams, rather than just testers, are now responsible for quality. Emerging technologies—continuous integration, mobile, the Internet of Things, and cloud—are drastically changing testing. Formerly seen as the least technical IT activity, testing today is one of the most technically challenging. Bart Knaack describes the new skills testers need to develop for properly testing mobile apps and applications in the cloud. Bart examines the changing role of test management and draws conclusions on how to organize teams and departments for maximum productivity and value to the business. Because testing is changing under our feet, we all must grow and adapt to survive and thrive in this brave new world of testing.